Steve D
Don't forget the old b+w movies (my favorites, as I find the atmosphere moody and menacing). Here's three worth looking into:

Topper
Topper Returns
Dead of Night (five stories, but two classic ghost stories)

Steve D
The correct order for the Topper Trilogy is:

Topper (early 1939)
Topper Takes a Trip (late 1939)
Topper Returns (1941)

Topper and Topper Returns is out on DVD, but they are two different stories, whereas Topper and Topper Takes a Trip are one continuous story. However, Topper Takes a Trip is not on DVD yet. VHS versions of the latter film are a pretty penny on eBay.

hey sean, a movie you might consider is The Devil's Backbone- i believe this is an italian film with english subtitles however after the first 10-15 minutes into the film you forget that your reading off the screen and the movie absorbs your attention. Anyone considering watching a good suspense/ghost movie should give this one a try

Steve D
I hope I'm not getting caught in that Ken V web of irony here, but by "menacing" I was referring to the black & white filming itself; for instance, I don't think "One Step Beyond" would have worked in color. I wasn't referring to the movies as "menacing" but to the b+w filming. I love b+w movies. I guess it's a throwback from growing up on Laurel and Hardy (remember the Laurel will short, where L&H have to spend the night in a spooky house? the spookiness was more spooky in b+w). Well, I doth protest enough. Ciao.

Steve --

I love old black and white also. I've gotten my son hooked on Abbott and Costello. He loves them so much, he asked his Granny for a DVD set. I also showed him my favorite Laurel and Hardy, THE FLYING DEUCES, which I picked up on DVD for a one buck! I still laugh uproariously at this one, and so did he. This week, I plan to take some Marx Brothers out of the library. (ANIMAL CRACKERS is a personal favorite for MANY reasons.)

But I know what you mean for drama, also. I can't imagine THE MALTESE FALCON in color.

Sean

hey sean, a movie you might consider is The Devil's Backbone- i believe this is an italian film with english subtitles however after the first 10-15 minutes into the film you forget that your reading off the screen and the movie absorbs your attention. Anyone considering watching a good suspense/ghost movie should give this one a try

Samus --

I'll try to check this out. Ever since an injury earlier in life, I've had some trouble hearing in one ear (not serious enough for mechanical assistance, but enough to make words hard to distinguish sometimes), so I watch TV and films at home with subtitles or CC on virtually all the time. When I see a foreign film, reading at the bottom in English is natural for me now.

Sean

I just remembered another ghost movie I liked:

STIR OF ECHOES

Sean

I rewatched this tonight. It was even better than I remembered. I noticed while watching that the babysitter was reading a book and paused to confirm what it was. I guess my discovery is no big secret, really, because I saw the same fact on the IMDB later. Here's their quote:

"Trivia: On the couch, the babysitter reads 'The Shrinking Man' by Richard Matheson -- author of 'A Stir of Echoes,' the basis for this film."

Nice touch.

Sean

hey sean, a movie you might consider is The Devil's Backbone- i believe this is an italian film with english subtitles however after the first 10-15 minutes into the film you forget that your reading off the screen and the movie absorbs your attention. Anyone considering watching a good suspense/ghost movie should give this one a try

Good call, although it is a Spanish film. I enjoyed it immensely.


The Eye, a Chinese horror/ghost story is one of the best movies I saw all last year. Seeing as how subtitles aren't a deterrent, I would put this at the top of your list.

Didn't you just dream about that opening scene! Talk about a "wake up and watch!" Whew! But that's one of the things that made it so cool!

Now I know what you and Kenji mean, Medusa! I just got GHOST SHIP from the library and watched it. You get lulled into a "Leave It to Beaver" kind of serenity and then BAM! Very, very memorable, and scary because the mass event seems very plausible. If I ever take a cruise, I am going to be keeping my eyes open a lot more now!!!

Sean

It baffles me that this thread went this long with no one mentioning The Changeling (1980, starring George C. Scott). What a great movie. I've lost count of how many times I've seen it. It's still creepy to me. The banging of the water pipes, the well, the seance scene, the voice on the tape recording.... Great, great stuff. If you haven't seen it, throw it in your Netflix queue. Or just buy it; Amazon has it for less than $12. That's a movie that will always have a place in my collection.

Blake

It baffles me that this thread went this long with no one mentioning The Changeling (1980, starring George C. Scott). What a great movie. I've lost count of how many times I've seen it. It's still creepy to me. The banging of the water pipes, the well, the seance scene, the voice on the tape recording.... Great, great stuff. If you haven't seen it, throw it in your Netflix queue. Or just buy it; Amazon has it for less than $12. That's a movie that will always have a place in my collection.

Blake

Blake -- Actually, Lisa mentioned it was her favorite in the 21st post of this thread, but people might have missed that. I plan to get it from the library soon.

However, I did forget to mention one of my own favorites: HOLES. Ghosts are only one part of the story, so it's not a ghost story in the traditional sense, which is why I didn't think of it at first. A good family film, too.

Sean

Blake -- Actually, Lisa mentioned it was her favorite in the 21st post of this thread, but people might have missed that. I plan to get it from the library soon.

Well, that'll teach me not to use the search function in my browser. Sorry, Lisa. But only one sentence about it?? Come on! That movie's deserving of an entire post!

Blake